How L’Oreal is Planning to Double its Customer Base to 2 Billion by 2020

Christophe Eymery, a keynote speaker at the marcus evans CMO Summit 2014, on L’Oreal’s strategy to reach out to twice its current customer base by 2020.

Interview with: Christophe Eymery, Head of Digital, L’Oreal Australia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“To reach our ambition for 2020 and double our customer base to two billion, we are focused on key growing markets to get the volume but the fourth pillar of our strategy is to leverage digital and to increase and deliver better beauty education to customers. We believe that will ultimately drive more and higher frequency of purchase, better engagement and longer loyalty with our brands,” explains Christophe Eymery, Head of Digital, L’Oreal Australia.

What is L’Oreal’s digital agenda? What digital channels is L’Oreal focused on?

In every country, each marketing team is focused on the digital agenda. My role is to ensure we have best practices across the whole business, building integrated marketing activities and leveraging digital channels. The digital function goes across all the touch points, the websites we have for our 27 brands in Australia and New Zealand, the social media and branded content destinations, the mobile apps and in-store digital screens.

How could marketers link Facebook fans to actual customers?

That is an area of high interest to all marketers. Facebook has done some studies on this, but some of them just compared groups of fans to non-fans. It would be more interesting to link data around our fans to retailer loyalty programmes, to not just measure brand purchase intention but cross check data with actual purchases made. That would help us better understand what our Facebook fans expect and what impacts purchase. The social media sphere is still a bit of an unknown, which marketers can exploit further.

L’Oreal’s marketing approach is focused on providing information, rather than branded content based around entertainment. Will this help L’Oreal reach the 2020 target sooner?

Our 2020 target is driven by the philosophy of offering Beauty for All. That is a grand ambition. It means conducting research and manufacturing products that will meet the different beauty requirements of all consumers around the world. It is our duty to provide the diversity of products needed to achieve that, but also the educational platforms so customers can find the most relevant products for their needs. That is paramount in the 2020 ambition. It is crucial for digital to not just entertain people, which would be nice, but to provide information for people to identify the right product for them.

How do you engage your target audience? What role does the actual message play?

One side of this is around the content we produce - it cannot be an engaging or informative platform without quality and relevant content. But we also need visibility for that content, which is a constant challenge. We have to reinvent our communication model all the time and leverage new touch points. The diversity of our customer base provides immense opportunities for presenting beauty education in very different ways. We explore new avenues and keep track of new technologies even before they are launched.

What tools do marketers underutilise?

There is still a strong belief in the TV model in this business, yet when you look at media consumption, TV has almost been taken over by digital channels and internet consumption. The media mix should no longer be heavily dominated by TV. Marketers are missing the opportunities to further leverage new channels.

What advice do you have for marketers with smaller budgets than what L’Oreal brands may have?

L’Oreal is privileged to have exceptional marketing means, but at the same time, the business is driven by individual marketers. Each brand is managed as a small business, with the mentality that every dollar invested matters.

Any final words of advice for marketers in Australia?

Be ambitious, bold and daring. Although Australia is a developed country, it is still experiencing high growth. Consumers are tech savvy. Smartphone penetration is high. The country is hungry for innovation.

The Fifth Annual CMO Summit is the premium forum bringing elite buyers and sellers together. It offers chief marketing executives and agencies and consultants an intimate environment for a focused discussion of the key new drivers shaping the marketing agenda. Taking place at the RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, 18 - 20 August 2014, the Summit includes presentations on mastering the art of communication, analysing business intelligence, creating synergy between sales and marketing, and pushing the boundaries of social media.

Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.

About marcus evans Summits

marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, case studies, roundtables and one-to-one business meetings. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com

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